End of History
End of History is a world building project by Morraw that depicts an Earth hegemonized by the Axis Powers. Following on from a imposing victory in the Second World War against the Eastern and Western Allies, international powers such as Japan, Germany and Italy begin to extend their influence across the globe in horrific, harrowing fashion; the dark clouds of fascism, national socialism, and general authoritarianism taking up the mantle as some of the leading ideologies that now influence other countries around the world. However, soon after their success, cracks within Anti-Comintern Pact formed as division between the two leading superpowers (Germany and Japan) resulted in a long Cold War that commanded the timeline of history throughout the latter part of the 20th century. Ultimately, after decades of proxy wars and nationalistic tension that in many cases almost broiled over to all-out war, the Third Reich appeared as the victor following the drawn-out international duel; although its policy that sought to continue absolute European dominance of the planet failed as many African, Asian and American nations won their independence during the Cold War. This project is an active timeline (which updates regularly with news of current affairs from the world itself) that begins shortly after the dissolution of the Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere; news reports beginning in the year 2000. All in-universe announcements can be accessed from the project's Current Affairs page. Context Overview It's 1940, and the world is in chaos. Across the globe, war rages as the extreme nationalist ideals of Italy, Germany and Japan clash with countries such as Britain, France and China in a struggle that would decide the fate of the planet for decades to come. By late-June, the Western Allies of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have been overrun by the German military, with Denmark and Norway further occupied by the invading forces; Britain standing alone in Europe as the only bulwark against fascist aggression, whilst further east, China is holding its ground against the imperialist Japanese Empire. The lights of democracy and human dignity that had been growing brighter over the preceding centuries were now growing dimmer, and following a successful (though bloody) invasion of Britain in the November of 1940, this march of authoritarianism appeared to only grow stronger and stronger with every passing day. In the April of 1941, Yugoslavia was overrun following a pro-Allied coup in that country, the now formally Axis powers of Italy and Germany rending it apart and drawing other Balkan nations into their sphere of influence. By May of that same year, Spain had entered the war after intense discussion with the German foreign ministry, however, the British government would soon officially surrender to the German juggernaut on 18th October, although remnants of resistance would continue the fight after securing overseas territories. Western Europe was now under the boot heel of the fascist powers. Meanwhile, in East Asia, Japan was slowly whittling away the resolve of the Chinese Kuomintang and Communist resistance as their stranglehold over the region began to solidify. With a series of sweeping military operations that stripped much of the coast from the Chinese, the Japanese Empire successfully looked towards finally defeating their arch-enemies by early-1942. However, plans would soon change however as an oil embargo applied to Japan by the United States (in response to continued aggression in China) in the June of 1941 resulted in mass shortages of fuel and successful counter-offensives by a now united Chinese opposition; this ultimately leading to the decision in which the Empire's armies invaded resource-rich Asian and Pacific colonial territories held by European nations (which were unable to defend due to ongoing conflict in Europe) in September. Shortly following this series of successful offensives, Japan bombed a wearing, yet nevertheless United States in December in an attempt to force it to lift the oil embargo; a request the Americans refused to oblige. The Pacific War had begun. Back in West, and the official war was winding down for a time. Despite a costly and significantly bloody invasion of the British Isles, the Germans had nevertheless removed their last major opponent from Europe in a formal sense by the October of 1941; fighting continued however as partisans and opposition groups in countries such as the United Kingdom and the former-Yugoslavia began to rise up against their invaders, these movements bolstered by the establishment of several governments-in-exile (such the British and French opposition cabinets formed in Canada). Due to this and several further set-backs, the German-led invasion of the Axis Powers' ideological enemy (the Soviet Union) was forced to be postponed several times until 28th April, 1942. Due to a strong military build up that occured in the USSR over the previous winter, the initially succession surprise attack into the Soviet heartland began to bog down in only a few months, although significant territorial gains were made through the mountains of dead civilians and raped woman. Stopping short of Moscow in November due to heavy rain and snowfall, winter set in as hundreds-of-thousands of soldiers starved, fought, and froze to death. Stalemate continued to linger on throughout most of 1943, and it wouldn't be until early-1944 in which a final push was made by the German-dominated military. Stalingrad, Leningrad, and most importantly, Moscow fell to the victorious Axis-aligned powers by the June of 1944, and despite being incredibly bloodied, they pushed on as the Soviet Union began to implode from within. Hundreds of generals accused of disloyalty against the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin were executed by firing squad, and the military began to pull further and further back into the wilderness, giving the Axis nations extensive wounds along the way. However, this would ultimately change in the July of 1944 as Stalin, after ruling for almost twenty years, was found dead in his personal convoy as it was relocating to the provisional seat of government, Kuybyshev. Shortly thereafter, foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and state security administrator Lavrentiy Beria took de facto control of USSR, and after much deliberation, sued for peace in August. German dictator, Adolf Hitler, despite hearing of the request nevertheless demanded that Axis soldiers continue moving forward into Russia due to the fact that it requested foreign invaders push back to a pre-determined demilitarized zone, and after weeks of subsequent fighting, a revised unconditional armistice was accepted on 7th September. The Germans were now in control of all of Europe. During this same time period, in the Pacific War, American and European territories were slowly being overwhelmed by the Japanese Empire. Despite German requests that they revise their expansionist ambitions against European colonies (due to the fact that they were officially no longer at war), the Japanese pushed on, plundering the countryside and setting up puppet governments as they pillaged their way from island to island, country to country. The third term President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, was hard-pressed during these years as the Japanese military decisively overwhelmed their own naval and army forces, and despite several bloody yet heroic victories on both land and sea, the United States was clearly losing ground by 1943. In 1944, three events occured that would permanently knock the United States out of the Pacific War for good; the invasion of both Alaska and Hawaii, the total military collapse of the central Kuomintang government in China, and the death of the President. Taking place between February and May, these events hit the United States hard as a war-weary populace, tired from constant humiliating defeats against what in most cases would be a far weaker adversary, began to march against the conflict. Whilst this would not have grown as large as it did if the former-President was still living, the new incumbent, Henry Wallace, did not have the political strength or social will to continue the conflict. Twelve days following the fall of Honolulu, the United States agreed to a temporary armistice with the Japanese Empire as a means to bring the three-and-a-half year conflict to a close on 6th August, 1945. Shortly thereafter, the European countries that still maintained at least vestiges of control over their former Asian and Pacific colonies (primarily the British puppet government) called for a cessation of their 'state of war' with Japan. However, due to the sheer diplomatic confusion that erupted across the planet following both Axis victories in Europe and the Asia-Pacific (mostly stemming from the control the governments-in-exile still held over foreign territories), it was decided by the major warring powers from both Europe, Asia, and America that an all-encompassing conference must be held to determine the future of both victors (the Axis powers) and losers (the Western and Eastern Allies). The result was the Treaty of Dublin. Held in Dublin, Ireland between November of 1945 and March of 1946 (Germany having been holding dialogue since late-1944 over the peace treaty with the USSR), the victorious fascist powers dealt out either their revenge (in the case of both Germany and Italy) or ambitions (the Japanese Empire) against the weary allies; the former western democracies being represented by their German puppet governments whilst the Soviet Union and the United States were represented by their new administrations. In the subsequent document that over one hundred representatives signed (the Treaty of Dublin), it was stipulated that several sweeping changes were to be made to nations across the face of the world; the most revolutionary of such stipulations being that regarding the territorial concessions that the losing Allies would make to the Axis powers (including handing over a vast stretch of Eastern Europe to Germany, and most Pacific islands to Japan). Eventually, an agreement was finally struck in ink on 3rd March, almost a decade after war broke out between Kuomintang China and Japan; the lights of democracy and anti-fascism signing away much of their former power to the extreme authoritarianism that would now establish themselves as world superpowers. The planet had fallen to whims and wishes of insanity and extremism, and it would never be the same again. Primary Content *History *List of Sovereign States *List of Intergovernmental Organizations *List of Wars *Science and Technology *Economics Miscellaneous Content *Flags *Maps *People *Populations *Mass Media *Sport Current World Map This the current map depicting the End of History world as it stands in the year 2000. Category:End of History